The present invention relates generally to user interfaces in computer systems and more particularly to a graphical user interface method and apparatus for assisting a user with the tasks of organizing and locating documents.
Increasingly, readers of documents are being called upon to assimilate vast quantities of information in a short period of time. Documents are becoming more widely available in electronic form. Some documents are available electronically by virtue of their having been created using word processing software. Other electronic documents are accessible via the Internet Yet others may become available in electronic form by virtue of being scanned in, copied or faxed. Typical documents can contain text, data, scanned images, applications, executable code, sounds, movies and so forth. Today's computing systems are becoming tools for organizing and manipulating documents. To facilitate this use, the user must be able to store and retrieve such documents quickly and efficiently. Naturally, this task becomes more complicated when the number of documents is large and the types of documents are varied.
Recently, the graphical user interface (GUI) has provided a more efficient way for the user to organize documents. As will be described below however, current GUIs have drawbacks that restrict the user's flexibility and ability to perform tasks efficiently.
FIG. 1A illustrates a typical graphical user interface for manipulating documents. FIG. 1A illustrates a partial screen display 10 of a Macintosh computer running the System 7 operating system, both from Apple Computer, Inc. Screen display 10 includes a cursor 20, icons representing folders such as System Folder 30, Word 40 and System 50, windows such as windows 60 and 70, document icons such as text file 80, file 90, and font 100.
A user operates the graphical user interface by typically using a mouse, or other pointing device, to control a cursor, shown at 20, to select, or "click on," icons such as System Folder 30 in a manner well-known in the art. Here, when System Folder 30 has been selected, window 60 appears on screen display 10. Window 60 includes additional icons in the shape of folders, such as System 50, and documents such as document 90. When the user clicks on System 50, window 70 appears. As shown, Window 70 includes documents representing type faces such as font 100.
Icons, representing folders or documents, may be moved within the various windows by clicking upon a particular icon, dragging the icon to a destination window, and dropping the icon in the destination window. For example, text file 80 can be moved into Word 40 folder by clicking on text file 80 icon, dragging text file 80 icon on top of Word 40 folder, and dropping text file 80 icon on top of Word 40 folder.
Under the Macintosh operating system, icons can be in the shape of folders or documents, etc. The shapes of icons are often used to help the user organize documents. The operating system also allows icons to be labeled with a name, typically immediately below the icon, as well as to have different shapes, and to have additional ornamentation. These techniques provide the user with a visual indication of what the icon represents.
One drawback of the Macintosh operating system is that icons can be arbitrarily positioned on the screen. When there are many icons on the screen, often the screen becomes cluttered and is difficult to read.
Another drawback is that the operating system allows the user to arbitrarily place icons in virtually any window. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, window 60 and screen display 10 contain folders, documents and other icons all together, making it difficult for the user to conceptualize a document hierarchy. Because the operating system uses a scheme that is different from the way users typically use and organize documents, the scheme is not intuitive to users, especially novice users.
FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate another typical graphical user interface for manipulating documents. FIGS. 1B and 1C illustrate a partial screen display 120 and 130 under Microsoft Windows 3.1 by Microsoft, Inc.
In FIG. 1B, screen display 120 includes windows such as window 140 and icons such as icon 150 and 160. Under Microsoft Windows, icons have a generic "menu" depictions such as icon 150, although custom icons can also be used. Here window 140 includes icons including a file cabinet icon 160. The function associated with file cabinet icon 160 allows the user to manipulate and organize files under Windows 3.1.
In FIG. 1C, a partial screen display 130 is presented to the user in response to the selection of file cabinet icon 160 of FIG. 1B. Partial screen display 130 includes a left portion 180, a right portion 190, open folder 200 icon, folder icon 210, and document icon 220.
Left portion 180 illustrates file folders in a directory"tree" structure; and the right portion 190 illustrates the contents of a selected file folder 200 in left portion 180. When selected, the selected folder icon is highlighted and open folder 200 icon replaces the original icon. The contents of open folder 200 icon are shown in right portion 190 and include folders such as images 210 and documents such as pcbkmark.zip 220.
Drawbacks of the Microsoft Windows 3.1 user interface are similar to the drawbacks of the Macintosh user interface. Specifically, since icons can be arbitrarily positioned on the screen, when there are many icons on the screen, often the screen becomes cluttered and is difficult to read. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 1C, windows can contain a mix of folders, documents and other icons all together, making it difficult for the user to conceptualize a document hierarchy. Other interfaces, such as the OS/2 Presentation Manager, from IBM Corporation and the Microsoft Windows 95 user interface have similar drawbacks to the Macintosh system. Again, because the operating system uses a scheme that is different from users' everyday experiences, the scheme is not intuitive to users, especially novice users.
Other approaches to the problem of organizing documents exist. For example, tools exist to search for documents both on the Internet and locally based upon content. Once a document is identified and retrieved, automatic summarization techniques, such as the Reader's Helper.TM. help the reader to find as well as assimilate the information he or she wants more quickly. The Reader's Helper is described in a commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/995,616, entitled AUTOMATIC ADAPTIVE DOCUMENT HELP SYSTEM, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
While efforts to create personal agents for reading online documents represent significant contributions to the field in their own right, many readers continue to seek easier ways to organize and locate documents of interest. What is needed is a graphical user interface that provides the user an easy and efficient system for manipulating and organizing documents in a computer system.